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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 1919)
PART TWO , SOCIETY SECTION FEE OM AM ' SUNDAY BEE , x . , 4- ; - PART TWO SOCIETY SECTION VOL. XLLX NO, 27. OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, - DECEMBER 21, 1919. B 1 SINGLE COPY PaWE CENTS. - . . i . i v ' ;. .... Maeterlinck is More Physical Than Spiritual After All . His "Blu.e Birds" Prominent Women Incensed Over Poet ,Wh6 Gave Great Hope to the World and Then Shattered , ' Their I)reams by His Departure From Ideals. ' - , Heart Beats By A. K. XCITEMENT has Teigned in - ' ILi "aDDy "ce this past week because of an article which ap peared in one of our contemporaries, headlined, "Famous Belgian Poet ' Who Has Solved Problem of the Eternal Iriangle- is Coming." The article reads in cart: Last spring he married Wile. Renee Dahon, 19 years old, who . took the part of "tyltyl" in the ' ' original cast of "The Bluebird." He was assisted in the wooing of , this child-bride . by his wife, , Madame Georgette Leblane Mae terlinck, well known actress and authoress; to whom he had been married 18 years. , t After the success of 'The Blue bird" MUe. Dahon was invited to visit at the ancient Abbey of St." . , Wandence, the favorite residence of Maeterlinck. Shorthr after the wife began to realize that her hus band had fallen in. love with the child actress. Instead of causing a tempest in a "teapot," she ar ranged to be divorced to ' tTTat Maeterlinck could marry little Renee. There was no ill feeling, not a bit of jealousy, and all were en . tirely satisfied and thoroughly happy. The success of this happy triangle is largely due . to the broad-minded philosophy of Georgette, the divorced wife, who is a remarkable woman. In explaining her philosophy to . a friend, she remarked that she .married Maeterlinck because he ' was the one man for her, the greatest genius in the world. Her only ambition in life was to" make that great man happy, and to that end she would be true, no matter what conceivable sacrifices must be made. Does It make him hap- , py to keep him from the girl he ' loves? Nol Therefore, the .wife must help him to marry the girl ht loves. ' Every man contains - two persons, the intellectual and the physical, says Madame Geor-, getre Maeterlinck. .- The physical man id necessarily attracted to the younger and fresher woman. The intellectual man may be as devoted to the in tellectual side of his old com panion as in other days, nay even more so, but the physical man yearns for a younger companion. "Maeterlinck is intellectually true , to me," says Madame Georgette, "but physically he dt de'voted to Renee." " Therefort, according t Ma dam Georgette, it is a loving wife's duty to see her husband free to do at he pleases and to help him to find happiness. v Georgette still serves the inspiration of Maeterlinck's plays which were first , made, commer- cially, and successful through her i talents and which- need her ex pert assistance. She may even play in them whenever a role re vquires her personality or she will train the girl-wife for the foremost role when it is best suited for her. The following, conversation was at white heat, between membere of the society office at 10:30 -Monday morning: "Maeterlinck is a great poet, nov elist, playwright, and philosopher, said the club editor, "but the fact that he divorced a fine, ( admirable wife. Madame Georgette Leblane Maeterlinck, to marry Mile. Renee- TV 1 m 1 . . m.wa jranon, iv yearn oiu, i im muio.w be excused in him than in a man of :.. leaser attainments. In fact, it is more disPPmt'n& Fr 'What is the purpose of high ideals, profound philosophy, lofty verse, and mighty theme, if they are not reflected in our own living? It's a poor doctor indeed, who cannot take his own medicine. Maeterlinck, in his mar riage last spring to the actress who played 'Tyltyl" in "The Bluebird," " has done just what he advises against in the play gon outside his own home to find happinesr, when all the while it was there. Quoting from the article, we read The physical man naturally at - traded to the younger and fxesher woman...... According to Georg ette, it is a loving wife's duty to see her husband free to do as he pleases and to help him to find happiness." We all agreed that we-would be better without great men if our blind worship of them brings, us to ideals which are contrary to all the teach ings of marriage at a sacred insti tution, fidelity as a cardinal virtue and superiority of the spiritual over the physical. The great man who subordinates the happiness of the , bride of hit youth to the obsessions of hit dotage hat lost something of hla vreatneaa. If hiffh-minded. strong characters cannot grow clos er BI1U UCC IV WWI vvhsi the passing years, then there is no ' argument for breadth and beauty of thought" ' ' ' " . - " Into the conversation ' walked Mrs. George Doane, who stamped her foot, flashed her .eyes- and said in a most emphatic tone: "I think it's horrid. I'm too old- fashioned to Tinderstand the trian gle. No, it' deeper than that I think the principle it wrong." ( . .v ; ' Mrs. Edwin T. Swobe has very " decided opinions on Maeterlinck' and his physical against' mental sides. "Oh, to give us such precious" new hope as' he did in The Blue Bird' and then take away that hope by his own conduct leaves us mpre desti tute of light than we were before. x By GABBY DETAYLS. It is better never to have given a prop .than to take" it away without a stronger substitute. For a man of Maeterlinck's marvelous -mental at tainments, to put aJicad of -that, his physical side, proves his insincerity. I 'shall have no desire to read his books in the future they could hold no possible 'deals for me." "The very idea of such a thing!" exclaimed Mrs. Victor Rosewater. "Had I kn6wn that Maeterlinck was this kind of a man I should never have voted to bring him here. And it is he who says the Bluebird of Happiness is right in everybody's home I Yet he has -gone outside for his happiness at 57 the disgusting thing. If marriage and "beautiful companionship is to end like this, in solving Hie eternal triangles, where are the homes and the chil dren and the incentive for women to become more -noble? , Why, I think that is dreadful 19 and 57 and Georgette has been his inspira tion, his helpmate, given-him all the glory I I'd never go back and help him to be more famous, as she has done. Never. I'd shoot him." Mrs. Rosewater has much com pany in her protest against such be havior. Women whose aim it is to perfect civilization and make the marriage relation and the home a beautiful place rise up( in indigna tion against such examples. Mrs. Lucien Stephens was panic stricken for a moment. "Why, how dreadful. How can anyone, read and love his beautiful stories knowing how the physical man is more to him than the spiritual? His books seem like lies theymust be lies I know they are lies. Isn't he base? Georgette may be a broad minded woman much broader than a woman can be who loves her hus band. But I doubt this broad mindedness. There must b'e some other reason." ' While the potest comes mostly from women, a few tnee men wan dered into the argument. Said one man, 35, and very much alive to life: "Don't worry, girls, he will get his. We can make all the laws for righj and wrong doing all the excuses and-scrape together all the phHos-n ophy we can hnd, and we have not changed 'The Law of Liftf which Operates justly and accurately de spite our schemes and legislation. Long years he walked The throbbing earth Partook of its sustenance And air- - And water. He moped along Day after day Night after night . He was dumb with sleep As the years went by ' ' Slipped out of sight Only gray hair And' wrinkles .Marked their flight y For he never ventured, So he never, gained The poor he noticed , Without a pang Rich folks passed him, But he gave no sign Of any desire For added wealth To progress he n,ever Furnished a thought To wasted years No regret He noticed no little child On the street No baby's smile ' Ever won him. , His heart Was not cold ' Just dumb to life's Vivid realties He never worked hard And knew not fatigue No pangs of poverty , Nor. lust nor greed. ' When the world Went wrong And the solons erred He worried not Nor even cared. He knew no love He bore no hate Thought not of Heavui Nor his Fate In another lite. i He suffered no pain And knew no joy But trudged along Day "after day In the' same old rut, In the same old way. He never suspected That he was dead (Long years before he died) As ever he would be Hereaftef . Dead for the want . ' Of joy and pain Dead tor the want . ,Of grief and laughter Dead for the lack ' Of chaos and strife. His permanent sleep Is but breathless resU How could he die -When he had not lived! SELAH. , j;,v;i;,,,,,:;,.; Pi ' , " If m ' 'vJ v-:r v : .. -v. 0 bi5 4- 0S& Washington Is Charitable ; This Year . , Mrs. Wilson Shops Alone . in Moleskins While President Rolls in a v Wheel Chair at Home. i " . . Bee Bureau, Washington, Dec. 20. THE Christmas spirit is very strong this year in Washington. More is being done for charity than ever before. There has never been such a record for charity balls as this early season has had, and the start is only just being made.' The seriousness about the White House is being brightened as the president improves, and Mrs. Wilson may be seen almost any afternoon doing a round of shopping in the downtown shops. She has been doing much of thir alone this year. The president sadly missel hit personal Christmas . shocoinsr. It hat alwayt been his custom in Wash ington to make several trips to the shops entirely alone, and he has even evaded the watchful guards, who tre supposed never to let him get out of their tight, and gone down F ttreet and ! through Pennsylvania avenue absolutely alone and unprotected, a" week or so before Christmas. Thit , year the nearest he can come to it is to be wheeled around the back yard of the White House. Mrs Wilson has eschewed all pub lic affairs so far this season, even the concerts of, the great artists of which she is a constant patron, the White House box having been oc cupied by Miss Wilson, and her friends, or Mrt. McAdoo and torn of the cabinet, or tupreme court cir cle. Mrs. Wilson has been seen during this very cold weather in her shop pjnr; trips, wearing some of her dis tinctively good looking clothes, strongly saverinj? of a Paris atmos-. phere. Last week she wore the smartest and most stunning of mole skin capes, a long, . full gracefullj flowing one with a big soft broad collar. It had the full effect with the smart straight fines too, which -only the skilled Parision fingers can succeed in making. . With thit she' wore a sort of queen of the Bel gians' turban ol duvetyn exactly the shade of moleskin, with a band and a pom-pom of moleskin. It was a most becoming costume. MissJ.M argaret Wilson had al'dis tinguished company in the presi-' dential box' at the concert oft the Walter Damrosch Orchestra with Frit Kreisler as soloist, on Tues day afternoon of this week. Mrt. Baker iust returned from her recent trip with the secretary to Panama was in the party with Mrt. Burle son, wife of the postmaster general; Mrs. A. Mitchell Palmer, wife of the attorney-general; Mrs. Joshua Alex ander, wife of the new secretary of commerce and" Miss Agnes Hart rWilson, daughter of the secretary of labor. Mrs. Walter Damrosch had. as usual, a box party composed of -her sister, who lives-m Washington, Mrs. Harriet Blaine Beale, Mrt. Robert Shaw Oliver and Mrt. and Miss Boardman. , i Mr. Kreisler had an ovation such' as has never been accorded an artist in Washington. He was plainly af fected by it, and played as he never played before. Few -artists of any kind were ever greeted with such a packed house as that was. Men and women cheered him, and women waved their handkerchiefs. It wat a wonderful occasion for Washing ton. Christmas in Washington. The secretary, of state and Mrs. Lansing will spend Christmas in their home in Watertown, N. -Y leaving Washington early next week while the vice president and Mrs. Marshall, left today for their home in .Jndianapdiis to remain over Christmas- day. Secretary and Mrs. Lane are having a particularly gay Yuletide witlj a debutante daughter at home with so many engagements that there is hardly time enough, for her to catch the needed winks of sleep between alls and morning en gagements. Miss . Lane is very good looking, not a slender, willowy type, but pleasingly plump, with a round, smiling face. She had a love ly tea party on Wednesday after noon, a small one but of very dis- ' i tinguished guests, for Nancy's par ents are extremely popular people. Quite )he most beautiful charity of all the affairs this year is the ball, (Continued on Fo Two, Thl Section.) Maeterlinck hasn't solved the eter nal triangle. It can't be solved. He hat merely indulged himself for the time being. Youth and .age again. And the Belgian poet is growing old. How long will this girl bride cling to him? Well, just stop, look and listen for a few months or years and see how accurately he has solved this eternal triargle. His philoso phy, when she turns to .a younger man, may be quite different , - ' . ' Then into our midst walks a man pf, perhaps, 60, who has grown wise with years. He is the kind of man who sits back and views life more or less with a twinkle in his eye and as a matter of fact He -smiles: "Gabby, do you want to know what I think of Mareterlinck? -Well, I'll tell you. He is just an ordinary human being, not quite as good as Miss Putnam Engaged Mr. and Mrs. T. O. Putnam announce the engagement of their daughter; Gladys, to Mr. Joseph Adams, ton of Mr. and Mrs. J. Adams, Mist Putnam attended Ferry Hall. Mr. Adamt is a Creighton graduate and a member of Beta Phi Sigma. The marriage will take place Tuesday, February 3, at the home of the bride's parents. Miss Mary Parker of Lincoln and Miss Alice Huntington will be bridesmaids and Mr. Gerald Styker will act at best man. Myrtle Van Duzer and Mary Louise Doddt will be the flower ... , Assisting at the reception following the ceremony will be the Mon Engleman will play the wedding march. girls. , Mrs. Leo Ismert will ting during the ceremony and Mrt. Mort isset Lucile Dodder, Virginia White, Phyllis Waterman and Cleta Har rington. ' " , u, 1 y ' . Miss Dodder. will entertain at a tea at the Blackstone Friday afternoon, December 26, for Mist Putnam. ' - Mr. Adamt and hi bride will be at home at the Dartmoor apartments after March 1. - many who, profess ifothing. The only difference is that he is a poet so when he wishes to commit a crime of any sort or to step out side the realm of propriety and de cency, he waildered on into ether of philosophy for an .excuse. He wants to make of his lapses something more than common vagaries, to he clothes them in fine words and a philosophy befitting one of his standing. H you've been thinking Maeterlinck a spiritual being, or something more than mortal man, come on down to earth with. me and don't waste your grief nor indulge too deeply in disappointment He makes his living writing. Doq't for get that." JWell, welir said Mrs. E, M. Sy fert as she came tripping in all pink and pretty, her lips tightening and her two-brown 'eyes snapping, "that is license, nothing more. .1 think it-it cruel to discard the wife who has given her talents, her labor and IS years of her life to help make him. I have always thought that a man's private life or a woman's, for that matter, could be a thing apart from hit or her work and genius. But I am changing my mind. One's private life has a great deal to do with hit work. I think -we might enjoy his books regardless of his misconduct but to advertise a man, ( the newspapers to print col- S?h t Jif fa-Si! at'n .out him, to attend his lec- J lPrVnVi mL I6-! i H ta.,H h;m hi nnr. n.ew P,av or bool. She has not - beseech umns about tures and laud him. besides oour ing money into his pocket, is coun tenancing hit selfishness and his lack of ideals. His example is ex tremely bad and should not be en couraged. However, back of the apparent reason it always the real reason. I am wondering if Geor gette Maeterlinck had not divorced him to save some scandal. I can not imagine her a "broad-minded" on this subject She is either broken-hearted and too proud to let the world know, or she did not love Maeterlinck and cared little about whom he married." , "Hum-m-m!" smiled a tall, beau tiful, silver-locks matron who made her grand entrance in -moleskin at the others were making their grace ful exits. She scanned, again, th contents of the article in which Mme. Georgette Maeterlinck was lauded as being a broad-minded and unselfish woman. "It is "pure l;cense on his part he is a rotter." She chuckled as the veil lifted from her inner sight or. sixth sense, or uiYiiditvn vuu iron u can ITv 'Georgette was just dead tired of hjm and was not interested in who claimed his affection. She realized, perhaps, that he was moody and temperamental, to she threw this given up a thine she wanted she. keeps of him all that attracts her she cashes in on their combined tal ents, and if Renee causes a flash for even one story orplay, then Mme. Maeterlinck has won her point She is using her former husband to good advantage she it clever, but she ' has cheapened herself in the eyes of the world removed herself from a pedestal of idealism to the ordinary level of commercialism. Now Gab-4 by don't print what I say." ; . And so Gabby cannot help but wonder if he will exit from ihe lif. of hit crhld bride when she finds a S'ounger and fresher man" as -eorgette hat made ' her arraeefiil exit from the life they led togetharv
